Grace Will Lead Us Home

March 15, 2019
An award-winning journalist delves into the events surrounding the 2015 massacre of nine people at Charleston, South Carolina's historic Emanuel AME Church--and how the community recovered after the horror.Hawes, who writes for the Charleston-based Post and Courier and has won the Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award, among other honors, begins with the heart-rending details of Roof's crime, describing the victims, the church, and the fateful night during which the perpetrator infamously completed his plan to create a sensation of racist violence. Though often difficult to read due to the emotional magnitude of the material, Hawes' book describes the crime in compassionate, detailed, and engaging prose. Shockingly, even after the crime, the pain for survivors and victims' families was far from over. Inept church leadership would make a mockery of Emanuel's story through poor pastoral choices, questionable use of donations, and an utter disregard for the needs of those most closely connected to the tragedy. In addition to the bungling next steps of their beloved church, survivors had to endure Roof's trial, a lengthy and painful reminder of the horrors of that day. Hawes is a talented storyteller, recounting every phase of this saga while focusing on the individual tales of survivors and family members. She also examines the forgiveness some parishioners offered to Roof, which captured the nation's imagination in the weeks following his crime, and she paints an impressively detailed portrait of the shallow criminal, whom she memorably describes at one point as "a gargoyle come to life." Hawes dispassionately examines the larger issues surrounding the tragedy, including the debate over the Confederate flag, fringe white supremacist groups, and urban racial tensions, all against the backdrop of one man's evil choice. Perhaps most impressively, the author does not let her subject drag her into pontificating; instead, she maintains her journalistic poise and balance amid a highly emotional storyline.At once horrifying and inspiring, engaging and thought-provoking, this is a definitive must-read about the Charleston tragedy.

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August 19, 2019
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Hawes delivers a wrenching account of the 2015 massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. In chilling detail, Hawes describes how Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old killer, devised and carried out his plan, murdering nine African-Americans and sparing one victim so she could “tell the story.” Hawes depicts Roof as a deeply disturbed loner with Confederate vanity plates. Many details are hard to read—Roof pulling the gun while study group members had their eyes closed for a prayer, bullet-pierced Bibles, the 911 call from the scene. As a local reporter, Hawes brings fresh insight into how this violent act impacted the community, leading South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to call for the removal of the Confederate flag from Capitol grounds and reigniting national debates about race relations and gun violence. The narrative follows the survivors, which makes for painful but moving reading; the book derives much of its power from following survivor Felicia Sanders—who ultimately switched to another church after being disappointed by Emanuel AME’s handling of the aftermath—and the grief of those whose loved ones were among the nine killed. This devastating work brings to vivid life the forces set in motion by the shooting

Starred review from May 15, 2019
It was an act that shocked even the most hardened in a nation assailed by mass shootings: nine members of the historical Emanuel AME Church were cruelly shot down within the sanctuary of its four walls on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. They were murdered just for being Black. Journalist Hawes, who covered the massacre for the Charleston Post and Courier, recreates in heartbreaking detail the events of that dreadful day. More important, she meets the survivors and family members and tells their stories while also exploring how the broader community was affected. One of the most remarkable outcomes of the trial was that some of the family members offered their forgiveness to the killer, though Hawes makes it abundantly clear that reactions varied. Some screamed at the defendant, she writes, calling him evil. Several hoped he burned in hell for eternity. Others called him a coward, an animal, a monster, even Satan. In a welcome touch, Hawes includes the full text of Barack Obama's eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, senior pastor at Emanuel and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate. With empathy and kindness, Hawes bears witness to one of the most horrific incidents in recent American history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2019

On June 17, 2015, the deaths of nine African Americans attending prayer service at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, made national news. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hawes, who has written for the Charleston-based Post and Courier for more than a decade, goes beyond the headlines to document the story of the unrepentant murderer, Dylann Roof, along with the 2017 trial in which Roof received nine consecutive sentences of life without parole. The author touches on the actions of former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, and her decision to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds three weeks after the shooting as well as the presence of Barack Obama singing Amazing Grace at the funeral. More than that, Hawes shows how families affected by gun violence are living in the aftermath of the trauma, and how the three survivors have dealt with the tragedy. VERDICT A groundbreaking, accessible work of investigative reporting that spans a variety of topics, including gun violence and the historic role of the Emanuel AME Church. It will appeal to general readers interested in these topics, as well as historians and political scientists.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2019

Pulitzer Prize winner Hawes shows us what happened after Dylann Roof slaughtered nine people on June 17, 2015, at the historically black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Survivors struggled to heal, relatives of the dead rose at Roof's hearing to say, "I forgive you," and the city faced its racist past.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.